By Evrim Ersoy Sep 3, 2006, 3:48 GMT
Hello there, dear Monsters and Critics readers; this is your loyal host, Evrim Ersoy, bringing you coverage of Zone Horror Frightfest 2006.
It has been an amazing festival this year, with possibly the strongest line-up we have ever seen as well as a wide and diverse list of guests and some very interesting surprises.
I’ve always wanted to cover the entire festival and this year I had the chance to do so. Proud owner of a weekend pass, I was inside Leicester Square’s Odeon West End Screen 1, settling into seat number A18 and getting comfortable in what would be my home for the next three days.
The Zone Horror Frightfest kicked off on Thursday the 24th of August with a special charity screening ‘Severance’. Although currently only on release in the U.K., ‘Severance’ will certainly be making its way across to the U.S. shores and it is one hell of a film that anyone with half an interest in cult cinema should not miss. Directed by Chris Smith (of ‘Creep’ fame), ‘Severance’ tells the story of a group of employees sent to a team-building weekend somewhere in East Europe. After an argument with their bus driver, the diverse bunch gets lost and finds themselves at an abandoned forest house. Deciding to spend the night there, none of the group are aware that they are being stalked by some very angry, very unforgiving and very violent people.
Described as “The Office meets Deliverance”, ‘Severance’ is a film which will not be forgotten by genre fans easily. Starring some great British actors such as Danny Dyer and Tim McInnery and also with a surprisingly low-key and amazing performance from the gorgeous Laura Harris, this is manic British filmmaking at its hell-raising best.
After the delicious appetizer of ‘Severance’, Frightfest kicked off for real on Friday morning with a triple bill of Hammer classics: ‘The Hound of Baskervilles’, ‘Countess Dracula’ and ‘Twins of Evil’. All three films supported beautiful new prints (even though ‘The Hound’ was by far the best looking one) and certainly were appreciated by the “geared-to-go” crowd.
After a brief break the cinema filled up for the opening movie: Guillermo Del Toro’s ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’. Although I have never been a big follower of Mr. Del Toro’s work, I did very much enjoy his previous Spanish Civil War fable ‘The Devil’s Backbone’ so ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ came across a brilliant companion piece to the previous film. Set in Spain, again during the Civil War, ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ tells the story of little Ofelia whose mother has just married the brutal Captain Vidal. Carmen and Ofelia move to the countryside in order to live with Captain Vidal but life turns out to be harsh, brutal and very violent so Ofelia seeks refuge in a maze next to the house.
There a magical faun (Doug Jones in very heavy prosthetics) reveals she is the long lost princess of an enchanted kingdom and to discover the truth about herself she has to accomplish three perilous tasks. Supporting great performances all-round (especially Sergi Lopez as the brutal Captain Vidal whose lip sewing scene will leave most audiences cringing) and amazing set design, ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ turns out to be an amazingly dark fable for adults.
Following on from ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ was the amazing, magnificent and immensely stupefying ‘Hatchet’. Already a firm favourite on the festival rounds, Adam Green’s ‘Hatchet’ is a throwback to the horror films of the eighties with a kick-ass attitude and buckets and buckets of gore. With a great turn from Kane Hodder as the monster Victor Crowley and supporting two brief but great cameos from Robert Englund and Tony Todd, ‘Hatchet’ not only delivers all the goods but manages to up the bar a few notches as well.
The late night film on Friday was the forgettable, Swedish vampire movie ‘Frostbite’. Sporting the intriguing premise of vampires descending on a town where nights last a month, ‘Frostbite’ fails to deliver on all fronts. Weak acting, a lack of an arch storyline to tie together the disparate branches and too abrupt an ending make ‘Frostbite’ an instantly forgettable piece of cinema. (Credit where it’s due: a scene involving a talking dog is rather amusing.)
After a night of rest, Frightfest Saturday kicked off with ‘Isolation’. Although at first glance, not standing out among the titles in the festival, ‘Isolation’ turned out to be one of the most assured and atmospheric horror films that I have ever seen.
Set in rural Ireland in an out of the way and run-down farm, ‘Isolation’ tells the story of Dan Reilly who has allowed a genetic scientist to experiment on his cows for much needed cash. However something goes terribly wrong and.... to say anymore would ruin the effect ‘Isolation’ has for those who go in with an open mind and without prior knowledge. Suffice it to say, the genre has a new up and comer in the form of Billy O’Brien.
Following on from ‘Isolation’ was terrible Klingon documentary ‘Earthlings: Ugly Bags of Mostly Water’ about which the less said the better. After suffering through this, we had the forgettable Canadian supernatural drama ‘The Marsh’. A derivative script and very forgettable direction made this a very passable affair.
After the obligatory dinner break, the evening kicked off with ‘See No Evil’ Starring Kane from WWE as Jacob Goodnight, the film saw his disturbed and very psyhotic character chasing and taking down the usual group of teenage suspects in a by-the-numbers but still enjoyable “stalk and slash” film.
The next film up was ‘Adrift’ which I hated. And that’s all I’ll ever write. If you liked ‘Open Water’ then this might be for you. However I’d rather have my eyes nailed shut than to sit through this again.
The late night movie on Saturday was Snoop Dog’s ‘Hood of Horror.’ Now, if you can’t figure out what to expect from the title, there’s not much I can do for you. Rude, funny, gory and very, very silly, ‘Hood of Horror’ made for perfect midnight watching. (And drinking. This is proof that some movies are just made to serve alcohol).
Stumbling home at 4 a.m. and getting a fitful hour of sleep, Sunday kicked off with ‘Broken.’ Suffice it to say ‘Broken’ is an Adam Mason film. I don’t know which twisted mentality decided to make the audience suffer through this film first thing in the morning but it certainly managed to garner enough hate from the assembled crowd to burn down the cinema.
After ‘Broken’ came ‘The Living & The Dead’ a shockingly good British film about a family tragedy. Although not really a horror film, ‘The Living and The Dead’ is a powerful piece of filmmaking, confronting very grim issues such as sickness, death, mental health and the indignity of old age. Although there is yet no word as to whether it will ever gain a distribution deal for America, I thoroughly recommend all of you to somehow track it down and watch it. It will restore your faith in cinema.
After ‘The Living & The Dead’ we all needed a moment to collect ourselves. The next picture ‘Them/Ils’ was one I had been looking forward to all weekend. Produced by Richard Grandpierre who was also behind ‘Irreversible,’ ‘Them’ touted itself as a thrilling cat-and-mouse game between unknown assailants and a young teacher and her boyfriend.
Now my feelings about ‘Them’ are mixed. Yes, it was taut, thrilling and very nicely made but the more I think about the ending, the more I feel slightly cheated. Now that three/four days have passed since Frightfest, my love for the film is faltering more and more. So I think I will leave judgement on this one, until I have seen it at least one more time.
After ‘Them’ we had the awful, awful ‘Grimm Love.’ Although billed as ‘Grimm Love’, the actual title of the film was ‘Butterfly: A Grimm Love Story’. And boy did it turn out to be grimm. Awful acting, the dreadful device of making people talk in English but with foreign accents and a protagonist who serves no purpose, ‘Grimm Love’ bore me to tears, and then some...
I had no expectations for ‘The Lost’. I knew nothing of it, I had not heard of author Jack Ketchum and the cast of relative unknowns promised me neither the good nor the bad.
But my god! What a film it turned out to be.
An intense character study, a slice of small-time Americana and a horrific ride through the excesses of the human mind, I fell in love with ‘The Lost’. By the time the last horrific half hour came along, I was on the edge of my seat, hoping furiously it would not end. But it did. And took my heart along with it.
Late nite movie on Sunday was ‘Sheitan’. All I can say is: “brilliant.”
A Gallic comedy/horror flic, ‘Sheitan’ tells the story of a mixed group of friends who end up at a remote country house. The house boasts not only weird dolls from all over but also an inbred housekeeper with a very mad manner played by the handsome Vincent Cassell who obviously relished this role and gives an eye-rolling, completely off the scale performance. If you ever wanted a film to take to a group of friends to late-night, ‘Sheitan’ is it.
Monday, was the last day of the festival. By this point, I had very little sleep, a lot of alcohol and was getting so attached to my seat that it was seriously scary to my neighbours. But onwards I slugged.
Monday kicked of with the Spanish shocker ‘H6: Diario De Un Assesino’. Brave, bold and very shocking, the film tells the story of Antonio Frau who is set free after serving a 15-year jail sentence for the cold-blooded rage murder of his girlfriend.
He discovers that he has inherited an abandoned brothel from his aunt in the seedy part of town. He immediately sets about turning one of the rooms into a torture chamber in order to do his duty as savior to the low-lifes and prostitutes of Spain.
Sporting a brilliant performance from Fernando Acaso, ‘H6: Diario De Un Assesino’ is an extremely well-written and brave film and never lets the audience off for a moment. The ending also deserves mention as it cleverly throws a spanner in to the works and makes the audience question the whole damn movie.
I would recommend ‘H6: Diario De Un Assesino’ to all those who are looking for more than the average, run-of-the-mill horror film.
After ‘H6: Diario De Un Assesino’ came ‘Ghost Of Mae Nak’ in a change to the advertised program. The film we were supposed to get was the Pang Brothers’ new film ‘Re-Cycle’ but the copy the Festival received had no subtitles so we had to settle for this other Thai shocker.
However an unexpected turn of events meant that I had to miss this one. So all I can relay to you is that my neighbours and friends re-assured me it was absolutely nothing special and quite boring at points. I will view it and report on it later on.
After ‘Mae Nak’ there was ‘Puritan’ a British film described by its’ director as a “modern noir.”
To be honest, it was one of the films that I really had been looking forward to however, when the time came, the film turned out to be a huge disappointment.
Telling the story of Simon Puritan (Nick Moran), an alcoholic writer who also does fake cold readings, and his involvement with Ann (Georgina Rylance) the wife of a rich, powerful head of a corporation (played by David Soul in an amusing cameo).
The film throws in the usual twists and turns, including a mysterious disfigured man and enough red herrings to make you spin, however it never seems to work due to the large hole in its’ middle (its plot) which makes it look like Swiss Cheese.
Since the director Hadi Hajaig asked the audience not to reveal the ending, I will refrain from saying anything else. However I must stress my extreme disappointment and unhappiness before moving on.
‘Behind The Mask: The Rise Of Leslie Vernon’ is brilliant. That’s all you need to know really because films like this do not come along very often. Focusing on a “wanna be” serial killer called Leslie Vernon and the documentary crew following him, the film cleverly deconstructs the whole slasher genre whilst remaining funny and even completely thrilling. If the term post-post-modern can ever be applied to anything then this film would be it.
Scott Glosserman shows great love and understanding of a genre that does not get enough injections of new blood everyday.
And so the final film. The last piece of celluloid to close these wonderful four days. And I could not think of a more fitting, more brilliant, more intense way of finishing the festival than Bong Joon-Ho’s ‘The Host.’ Mixing monster movie with intense character drama, ‘The Host’ is an amazing piece of cinema.
Deftly mixing genres, as well as subtly inserting very subversive social commentary on the state of the world, South Korea and general global attitude, ‘The Host’ takes the audience on a trip they’ll never forget. I will reveal nothing of the plot as I think this is one of those films that will allow you to experience more if watched with an open mind.
And then it was over. It went as suddenly as it came and we found ourselves at a loss.
Actually that’s a lie. There was one last thing to do before the whole thing was truly finished: an after show party at the Phoenix Artists Club. A lot of alcohol and a lot of laughs, it was the perfect antidote to avoiding the post-festival blues.
Before I go and leave my outstayed welcome let me thank the usual people: my festival crew and buddies Alex (whose kindness allowed a lot of people to see things they otherwise would not have seen), Mitesh, Garfman, Kevin (the best neighbour a man can have), Steve (without whom the midnight movies would have been tasteless wastes), Steven (whose brief appearance was an highlight of the festival), James, Ed (Toy Plane!), Sam, Amy , Chris, Hugh, Doris and Marcel as well as Lupogirl and countless others I can’t remember right now. Also a very special thanks to directors who did not mind me rambling words of praise after their films.
And thanks to you dear readers for reading this far. We are now in festival season and next up will be Firecracker: The Asian Film Festival. So until then, I remain your obedient servant.
Evrim/Voor
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